Win-trading and other offenses were detected during WCS Challenger Europe, with Blizzard imposing strong penalities in an attempt to stamp out cheating

As Blizzard stated, after examining DnS matches, it was discovered that the games in question were “win-trades played to increase DnS’s rating without sacrificing either MajOr or MarineLorD’s ladder rank”. As a result, DnS, MarineLorD, and MajOr have lost both their accounts and the 2016 WCS points they have already obtained. Moreover, they have been suspended from all Blizzard-sponsored events that are due to take place before or on June 30. Meanwhile, MarineLorD is no longer qualified for the French National qualifier of DreamHack ZOWIE Open: Tours.

Blizzard have elected not to list the suspect matches publicly, since despite some suspicious queuing behaviour, it cannot be proven that the players who earned free wins had directly requested them from Major. However, all reports are being examined and some unnamed players will receive warnings for their ladder activity, as well as having their records scrutinized during future ladder competitions.

Finally, Blizzard made clear that violation of rules will not be tolerated in ladder competitions run or sponsored by the company and all parties with access to any guilty account will be punished in cases of rule-breaking. The goal of Blizzard is to prevent professional players from manipulating the tournament standings while preserving ladder competition as a method of qualification and assure its effectiveness.

In future WCS Seasons, Blizzard will make sure to fully investigate the players’ behaviour after the conclusion of ladder competitions. Eventually, new rules about replay saving and match forfeits may also be applied.